SON OF THE HERO KING

"Ugh! What a sweltering heat."

Sol, who had been ready to pass a stifling day, chuckled a little bit as he watched ‘Sheherazade’ groan and complain while walking next to him.

“Perhaps, you should wear something else?”

Looking at her current attire, Sol already felt hot even though he was using his scales.

She was covered from head to toe in a black robe that hid all her features, and her face was covered by a black veil.

At his question, she placed her arms on either side of her hips and pushed out her chest with pride,

"Hum! Hum! What do you know? I am a star here, you know? If they recognized me, everyone would rush while screaming."

Isis was not lying. If Phoenixes disliked necromancers because of what they represented, then spirits, born from nature, were positively frightened of necromancers.

The attire she wore wasn't just to hide her face, with Sheherazade helping her and the fact that she was a Phoenix hybrid, it wasn't difficult to hide her aura of death.

If she showed her appearance though, everyone would run away from her while screaming in fear.

'It was pretty depressing the first time it happened.'

Thinking about this event, Isis's upbeat mode abated slightly.

On Sol's side, while he did not know the truth behind her statement, he understood that she was hiding something.

Clearly, she did not wish to be recognized, which proved that she wasn’t just a simple guest despite what she wanted him to believe.

He initially thought that she was a phoenix, but now he was wondering if he was wrong. After all, a phoenix would find such heat to be nothing.

Though, whatever the truth was, it didn’t matter to him.

"Also, it isn't like I'm the only one hiding my features."

Sol awkwardly laughed. After all, he was also wearing a cloak that entirely hid his features.

Golden hair and blue eyes were a mix that was known through all the realms.

The divine beasts may not really care, but it wasn't the case for spirits and other races from order.

It wouldn't be a mistake to say that the Blessed were loved by the world.

Isis, of course, understood all this, and could only laugh inwardly at the contrast.

One being clad in black and who is hated by the world walking with a being clad in white and loved by the world.

'Must be nice...'

She ignored the slight whisper of envy in her heart.

----

After walking for a short while, Sol turned around and looked at the ridiculously large palace where they came from.

Even at this distance, the white palace could be seen clearly and radiated a sort of holy presence that warmed the hearts of those who looked at it.

At first glance, the palace looked more of Greek origin, but he knew that this was more because of the similarities between those two cultures. On the palace, beautiful drawings of phoenixes could be seen, depicting the story of the creation of this city.

The city itself was beautiful, even though it was hot and most people were covered in white robes to protect themselves from the heat, the city was still very active.

Everywhere, oasis and rivers could be seen. On the rivers, small boats ferrying groups of people advanced quietly.

Even though all the beings here possessed great power, it was a rule that no one who entered this city had the right to use it, aside from adding protection against the heat or the cold.

In the past, some people did not respect this rule and were simply and directly executed. Showing that even though Phoenixes were kind, they were not just pushovers that could be taken advantage of.

Many people made the mistake of equating kindness with weakness while forgetting that only the strong can afford to be kind.

At their pace, it didn't take long to reach a rather lively market.

"A special perfume from the heavenly fox territory! Just for 30 Vira! One bottle for 30 Vira! This is a true catch!"

"A piece of eternal ice from Divine snake territory! Never fear the heat again! Price can be discussed!"

"Selling eggs from unknown species. Come and try your chance! You may even get mutant beasts!"

The moment Sol stepped into the market, his ears were immediately assaulted by a plethora of sounds.

People were shouting left and right to sell their merchandise while others were haggling.

Even though no one fought, it was easy to see arguments and curses exploding here and there.

The atmosphere was overall very heated and full of life.

"This is the market. People sell everything here."

"...Yeah...Thanks, Miss Obvious. I really didn't realize it was a market until you pointed it out."

Isis blushed heavily under her veil at the obvious sarcasm.

"Hmph! I just wanted to make it clear for you. Anyway, how much do you have on your card?"

Sol thought back to the golden card Nephthys had given him when he first went out.

He had been pretty surprised at the fact that the Astral realm had their own versions of credit cards.

The Vira was the universal currency in the Astral realm

"Hum, about ten thousand?"

"Ten thousand? Hum… it's about average."

Listening to the conversation between the two, some of the people who were passing by clutched their chest in pain and frustration.

Sol, who had more or less grasped the value of this currency, gave a bitter smile under his cloak.

'That girl must really be spoiled.'

Sol thought idly without casting any judgment.

After all, when it came to being spoiled, few people could compare to him.

If it weren't for the fact that he was a reincarnator, he would have really changed into a no-good young master type.

"Well then… It's time for shopping!"

"You are the guide, lead the way."

…

…

…

"You are a very terrible guide–You know that?"

"Oh shut up okay!? I-I am not lost. I am just showing you around."

Isis felt that her face was on fire as she shouted and wished she could hide in a hole. She never thought that her plan to bring him to troublesome places would fail in the first step.

She had forgotten that since she wasn't really appreciated outside, she rarely went out.

'What a humiliation!'

"Uhuh…"

Sol eyed her with skeptical eyes as he nodded, he did not miss the stutter in her words.

It had been twenty minutes since they had been walking around, but this market seemed to have no end.

He couldn't even see the palace anymore.

"Well, I guess we should just look around like you said."

Ignoring her, Sol looked at the shops that littered the current zone.

The hustle and bustle of the previous part of the market were absent and was replaced by a solemn air.

What was sold here weren't luxury products, but rather weapons, armors, and the like.

Since Sol had no particular goals, the two of them walked around and stopped in front of a store selling swords.

"Hello dear clients, how may I help you?"

Sol nodded to the friendly salesman, a man that seemed to be completely made out of rock, and focused his attention on the weapons displayed before shaking his head.

Some of those weapons were quite expensive, even reaching 2000 Vira.

But it did not particularly attract him. After all,

'Those weapons are lower quality than what Theresa created for Setsuna and Lilin.'

Even though he was not an expert, he could still see the clear difference between the creations of Theresa and the ones displayed here.

It was surprising that a weapon store in a higher realm sold lesser quality weapons, but it showed once again just how talented Theresa was.

The rock man could see Sol's disinterest in his wares and immediately lost his friendly smile as he sat back.

The only reason he did not hurl insults at the man for wasting his time was that people of his race, despite their fierce appearance, were not warlike in nature.

"Let's go, there's nothing to see here."

Isis did not even glance at the weapons. She did not use swords and only had a short dagger for self-defense, in case her power did not work.

What's more, if she wished for a weapon, she just had to ask, and the greatest dwarven smiths to ever live would be resurrected from the dead to make it for her.

Falling in steps beside her as she began to walk away, Sol murmured,

"Well, let's see where our dear guide will bring us this time."

He snickered at the slight staggering in her steps.

----

At a certain distance, two men, one with the head of an alligator and another with that of a lion were observing Sol and Isis, while avoiding to fix their stares on them, as to not trigger their instincts.

The lion-headed man asked, "Are you sure it's him?"

"Yeah, even though he is hiding his features, I recognized his energy signature. That man is definitely a Blessed. You know what it means, right?"

The lion-man grinned, showing a sharp row of teeth "Jackpot! We are going to be rich! We need to find a way to bring him outside of the city. Let's warn the others."

Nodding to each other, they took a step back and vanished into the crowd.